Customer Reviews

Guys and Dolls

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you like Damon Runyon and have a quirky sense of humour you will love this DVD. The star choice for the movie was superb and the music was great. A good two and a half hours of entertainment.

The orginal score and dialogue make it one of my favourite movies. However, many have wondered how Brando got the lead in a musical and I would put myself in that category. Sinatra wanted the lead, her certainly has the voice, but again, his scarwniness would make it diffiult to see in the Sky Masterson role.
Apart from the mis-casting, the supporting players are perfect. Nicely, Nicley is a gangter with a heart of gold. He's great moment comes when he sings "Sit down you're rocking the boat". That songs justifys the price itself. However, it's not the only moment that is good.
If you love the play but don't count on Brando to deliver, you'll enjoy it. Sinatra and (sorry, I don't remeber her nake) Miss Adelaide are great.

I really liked this movie. I am not much of a fan of musicals, (hence the 4 stars) but, because Brando was in it, I thought I'd give it a chance. He actually can sing and I loved the dance sequence. He is gorgeous as usual (surely the other reason why I like this movie so much). There is great chemistry between him and Jean Simmons, who was great also. If nothing else get this movie for the sheer curiousity of seeing Brando sing and dance. After I'm done with this I'm gonna go watch it again.

Angry, Aggressive, Bitter, Stanley Kowalski from "A StreetCar Named Desire" is singing and dancing in this Broadway classic. Versatility
on Marlon Brando's behalf proven at its finest .

I rate this product with three stars only. I take off one on account of the film's shortcomings, and another because this particular edition on DVD lacks bonus materials (it has only the theatrical trailer and a three page booklet). Also, the DVD can't be run in other aspect ratio than the panoramic original format (2,35:1).

Now, into the film itself. The best of it, in my view, are the memorable lyrics and music by Frank Loesser, another of those half a dozen -or little more- genius popular musical artists of the XXth Century. Particularly, "Woman in love", played and sung in Spanish and in English, in several styles during the Havana trip of Brando-Masterson and Simmons-Sergeant pervades the atmosphere of the film for many minutes. I find that about the best part. Worth watching and rewatching and listening and relistening. The romance advances at the rythm of the music.

As to the actors adequacy for the parts, it is a little awkward. Sinatra is perfect, very at ease in the rol (no very far from the "Pal Joey" character at least in his general outlook). He can sing. Simmons is also excellent for the role, she represents the allure of the beatiful prude, the repressed young woman who explodes in passion when she is released by love. Brando... this doesn't seem a part for him, he looks awkward, his singing and voice are rather lackluster. But we can forget that and acknoledge his efforts to cover new ground. It is refreshing that he accepted to move aways from his usual mumbling "rebels". This is no to say that he does not mumble here... Vivian Blaine is perfect, she recreates the part from the stage musical she herself starred on.

The dancing numbers are good. Choreographed by Michael Kidd, they are also stylish and pleasant to look on, often spectacular.

This is a film one can see many times, so it is worth purchasing. Mankiewicz characterictic excess of dialogue doesn't come in the way. It is clever dialogue, well delivered -of course, a lot must come from the play-. So, with a little effort of enriching this DVD in various ways, it would have been near-great, as the movie is in fact.

A film by Joseph Mankiewicz

The image I have in my head of Marlon Brando is that of Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" and Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront". The opportunity to see Brando in a musical was just too good to pass up. "Guys and Dolls" is a musical about gamblers and women, but the story is much better than that.

Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) runs a high stakes craps game. Normally he does not have any trouble finding a location for the game, but the police is putting on the heat and nobody is willing to take the chance...nobody but one person who wants $1000 up front to host the game. All of the big mobsters are in town and they are looking for Nathan's craps game. Nathan makes a bet with Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando), a high roller who will bet on absolutely anything. The bet is that Sky cannot convince Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons) to go with him to Havana for the night. This may not seem like that big of a bet, but Sarah Brown works downtown at the mission and is a very straight-laced, Christian woman. Sky Masterson is not the sort of man she would associate with. Sky takes the bet and starts trying to win over Sarah. While Sky is doing this, Nathan is setting up the craps game with the promise of the thousand dollars he believes he'll win from Sky. The only thing raining on Nathan's parade is his fiancee of 14 years, Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine). Miss Adelaide is a show girl, and she is getting tired of waiting for Nathan to marry her and she is also completely against the crap game.

The above description sets the stage for a wonderful musical where we get to see Brando singing "Luck Be a Lady". The other song that completely surprised me was "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat", a song I only knew from the much slower Don Henley version. With Sinatra's crooning and Brando singing like I never knew he could, this is one good musical. I would definitely recommend this movie.

"Fool For Love" is based on a Sam Shepard`s play, and the movie`s leads are Shepard himself and Kim Basinger as a married couple who face an identity crisis and must overcome their differences in order to be unite again or disjointed forever. While the idea is promising and the first minutes intriguing, it soon turns into a pretensious, lifeless, slow and unfinishable picture. What could have been an interesting piece about love, guilt, dysfunction and desire becomes a sucession of empty dialogs, wooden monologues and tepid flashbacks that fail to engage. Director Robert Altman sure wasted a good opportunity with this snoozer. Avoid.

I'm so in love with young Marlon Brando; I just I can't stand it! Every time I watch him, I'm simply overwhelmed by his unbelievable greatness. All I can do is touch the TV screen - he's gone forever! It's like a needy void that can't be filled! Why why why was'nt I born 50 years ago when this incredible, great-looking simply amazing "human being" was walking the Earth? (I put -human being- in quotaton marks because I truly believe he's really some kind of god) Sigh... Just my luck, I guess. Anyways
This is a really good film. Not great, but almost. I personally believe ofcourse Brando steals the entire show and then some, but the rest of the cast is really entertaining. !!YES HE CAN SING YOU IDIOT NAYSAYERS!! The only thing that really annoyed me was the music; I'm very open-minded to musicals when the songs are catchy and slickly performed. Here they sing too many bland ballads at awkward moments for my taste: at the least expected moments they just start cooing and you wonder where that music is coming from! But only here does it get dangerously close to being another corny musical,otherwise this movie always bounces back with its fun story, settings, cool dialogue and characters and ofcourse, Brando. Ofcourse.

this movie couldn't have been more well made.It's even tied with West Side Story!

I am a huge Broadway musical fan, and I think Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons are wonderful in this movie. They have great chemistry, and their acting is first rate. As matter of fact, Broadway.com's review of the DVD states "casting of Marlon Brandon as Sky Masterston [is] a risk that pays off" and "Jean Simmons' Sarah is definitive".

Vivian Blaine is a riot as Adelaide, and you can't beat the Frank Loesser score.

And YES that is Jean Simmons voice. She was *not* dubbed. If you listen very carefully, you can tell it is her. As a matter of fact, four (4) songs from the movie are included on the digitally re-mastered 2000 re-release of the original Broadway cast recording. The re-release was in celebration of the 50th anniversay of the musical.